I’ve been wondering for a while now if I might have that gene or whether Cilantro is just a herb i dislike. I can stomach dishes with cilantro in them, but it just stings through everything. No matter how little was put in, it tastes to me like somebody over-cilantro’d the dish. I’ve never eaten anything where I thought “Mmmh, yes, there’s a subtle hint of cilantro” - it’s always “Oh, there’s the cilantro, and it’s just too strong”.
But whenever I read about this online, people say that it tastes like soap. It’s been a couple of years since I was toddler enough to just put soap in my mouth. But in my mind, the taste of soap is mostly bitter, with an overwhelming tropical/fruity/citrussy flavor of whatever the producers decided to make the soap smell like. I also imagine it having a really unpleasant texture/mouthfeel. I have no urge to try eating soap, just so I can compare it with the taste of a herb. And I assume that most people with the Cilantro-gene also haven’t made an actual taste-comparison. So hence my question: In what way does anything - but cilantro in particular - taste like soap?
It tastes like metal to me - not soap
Soap tastes like cilantro on account of the simple fact that cilantro existed first. Not the other way around. If you’re going to eat soap some people say it tastes like cilantro.
Take the smell of dawn dish soap diluted into water. That’s what it tastes like.
I hate cilantro but I’m unsure if I have the supposed “cilantro tastes like soap gene”. To me, it just feels like chunks of cardboard or plastic in my food that shouldn’t be there. I tried it two or three times then stopped using it in my cooking. However, I like storebought salsa that contains cilantro so apparently I don’t mind it if it’s cut into really tiny pieces
While we’re at it, wtf do ants smell like?
Citronella, for some.
Formic acid
Keep in mind, just because it doesn’t taste like soap to you, doesn’t mean you should like it. People have their own unique tastes. I, for instance, don’t like most fish, and think that describing a thing as what it is - means it’s bad - is a weird thing: “this fish is fishy” = gross. “This chicken is chickeny” = delicious.
All that said, you just don’t like cilantro, that’s fine. My wife doesn’t like strawberries. I can’t understand it, but I accept it.
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Coffee tastes exactly like hot wet loam to me. I detested the flavor.
I’m a grown ass man, and I fucking hate coffee.
For me, it tastes like a stink bug had farted in my generel direction. same scent, not that intense.
I do think there’s something strange with how you taste it. My partner and I both love cilantro and will eat it in abundance, no issue.
Fwiw, I have a weird taste sensitivity to all seafood. I can sense the tiniest amount of seafood in a dish because it ruins the whole thing. I’ve learned that most people don’t taste seafood like that, so something like fish oil in kimchi doesn’t taste like you licked a room temperature anchovy.
Eating a piece of cilantro while I type this. To me, it starts with a fresh but subtle flavor that then intensifies until it feels like looking directly at a light, then it dies down with the aftertaste of grass clippings
Palmolive. That’s what it tasted like to me when I went looking for it.
I once ate a handful of cilantro to see if I could taste it, and I could, a little bit. Then I swore not to do that again because normally, I love cilantro.
It tastes like drinking water from a glass that has been cleaned with dish soap but not rinsed properly and you can taste the residue and distinct smell/taste of soap. I used to have this response as a child but later as an adult the taste completely changed and now I can taste its real flavour.
I had no idea it could change over time, that’s really cool. Makes me wonder what other genetic factors can change like that.
I couldn’t eat something that had come near cilantro until I was in my 20s. But I was intentional about it. I love Mexican food, but really couldn’t eat it at restaurants because of this so I decided I was going to try an experiment.
I would make a small amount of food at home with a little bit of cilantro and as I cut it up I would inhale deeply and tell myself out loud “this smells delicious. I love this.”
Then I would eat the prepared food and do the same. I did this once a week or so for a few months and eventually the soap taste disappeared. It tastes like delightful fresh herbs now.
See, yes. This is what adults do.
Being grown and refusing to eat something that millions of humans eat every day is, frankly, embarrassing. When I meet any otherwise neurotypical picky eater over the age of 13, all I can think of is, “Christ, grow the fuck up.”
When I met am otherwise neurological adult who gets hung up on what others choose to do with their free will, all I can think is “grow the fuck up”
I’ve got a cousin who gets upset about what I choose to eat. I don’t even understand where someone like that is coming from.
Cater to them in a family of otherwise normal eaters, and get back to us about how understanding you are.
Having allergic reactions is one thing; being fussy is another thing entirely.
Just don’t. Why would you? We’re talking about adults
It’s probably less about what you choose to eat and more about the fact that picky eaters are, in a larger sense (and without exception) some combination of childish, incurious, self-absorbed, inflexible, and boring.
Do they also eat children?
A lot. Genes have a weird ability to activate or deactivate, or simply have a different effect, based on environmental factors.
Look up “Epigenetics”.
Thanks for the new rabbit hole! :D
The flavor to your immature taste buds wasn’t real?
There is the thing as it exists and then the thing as I perceive it. I’d say I’m tasting the more accurate version of it today but it probably is still debatable.
What something tastes like is part of your perception of it though. It’s an interaction that is based as much on the tongue doing the tasting as the substance being tasted.
I don’t think either way you tasted it was more “real” or “accurate”, but could be closer to what the majority of people experience.
It doesn’t always taste like soap to me. But when it does, it literally tastes like the lather/residue from unscented bar soap. Like if you wash your hands but don’t thoroughly rinse them, then eat finger food. It’s a basic (as opposed to acidic) flavor, that really doesn’t taste like anything other than soap.
I’ve always thought soap was the wrong comparison, but I definitely have the gene that makes it awful.
Cilantro is loaded with acetyl groups, and sensitivity to those is what defines the taste. Soap is also full of acetyls, but different ones I guess? What hits much closer to target is stink bugs. The gunk they secrete to make their distinctive stink has many of the same acetyl groups as cilantro.
With our sense of smell tied so strongly to our sense of taste, you kind of know what something tastes like just from getting a whiff, with a few exceptions (looking at you, vanilla extract… you fucking liar).
Anyway, a more accurate comparison would be that cilantro tastes like stink bugs. Or specifically, cilantro tastes like the smell of sink bugs.
I can stomach dishes with cilantro in them, but it just stings through everything. No matter how little was put in, it tastes to me like somebody over-cilantro’d the dish.
Same. The taste of cilantro ranges from bad to intolerable. If there’s just a tiny bit of it in there, it tastes only mildly bad; scale it up and the dish is ruined in a hurry.
Pro tip:
You’ve probably already noticed that “please no cilantro” will fall on deaf ears when placing an order at most restaurants. “I have an allergy to cilantro - please make sure there’s none in my food.” will get you MUCH better results.
If faced with skepticism, give them the spiel about acetyl groups and that those are the source of the allergy. Your symptoms are itchy sensation on the tongue, soreness on the roof of your mouth, constriction/wheezing in your throat, and nausea that kicks in later.
You’ll be amazed how rarely they ‘forget’ not to defile your meal with that rancid shit.
Reminds me of my own issue with parmesan cheese in things; I taste a vomit smell and just a little will make it bad to intolerable. I followed a recipe that added a sprinkle to a large pot of soup and to be the whole thing just tasted like vomit soup. My wife didn’t notice at all. I think I’m sensitive to butyric acid, the shared factor between the two.
I’ll use your stink bug example in the future when cilantro comes up, though, especially since so many people I know love cilantro and can’t imagine (and to be fair it’s very good without said gene, lol)
Only partially related, why does no one talk about what it tastes like when you don’t have the gene? Nobody told me it’s like spicy mint! I was expecting something mild like basil or something. But no, it’s overpowering.
I had the chance to try it for the first time a few months ago when I discovered a local restaurant sells Bahi Mi with cilantro and pickled carrots. Its delicious, but I was not expecting that flavor.
I’ve been told it tastes milder than parsley and that blew my mind.
